Making sense of common sense: A framework for tracking hegemony

Abstract

Aided by the concepts of such scholars as Gramsci and Althusser, Stuart Hall has constructed a rather hybrid form of Marxist theory concerning ideology and hegemony, a middle ground of sorts between structuralism and culturalism. Hall's intriguingly sophisticated and complex ideas concerning hegemony provide a useful theoretical beginning—a critical framework— that could be empowered by a theoretical fleshing out based on systematic, phenomenologically based empirical work. Because the practical, everyday world of common sense is central to Hall's theoretical framework, it could benefit from Glaser and Strauss's process of developing grounded theory, combined with the phenomenological concepts of scholars such as Schutz, Berger and Luckmann, Garfinkel, Mead, and Blumer. In turn, the work of many of today's interpretive‐oriented scholars could benefit from critical cultural studies perspectives. The purpose of this article is to outline a means through which Hall's concepts of hegemony could be empirically tracked. This process of tracking—the accumulation and comparison of empirical insights—could be used to develop Hall's concepts into a more grounded theory.